This dissertation assessed the adequacy of in situ thermal desorption (istd) in cleaning oil contaminated debris from Refineries. A new modulated istd system was designed and built in order to remediate oiled cobbles under pipeways. The experimental results revealed the possibility of cleaning concrete pavements contaminated by heavy oil. The thermal desorption process restored their original color but reduced their resistance up to 65 percent. It was observed that the resulting debris, after mineralogical analyses by X-ray diffraction and chemical analysis by X-Ray fluorescence, have a similar composition to the soil employed in the fills throughout the Refinery, indicating that the debris could well have been transported by the wind. The system devised here had a satisfactory performance. It was observed the necessity of aeration during the treatment in order to avoid the production of coke. Additionally, it was also observed the importance of a good thermal insulation in order to minimize power consumption and the propagation of heat and gas emissions to the atmosphere. The gases emissions consisted mainly of olefins and paraffins that had been reasonably been treated by the thermal oxidizer devised herein.